Through scientific experiments and technical projects, students will learn how science is useful in everyday life. Three topics will be covered during these workshops, with each topic spanning two Saturdays.\r\n
Hosted by Solange Denervaud, CIBM Flagship Project Officer, we are pleased to invite you to attend the CIBM Visitors Talk on April 24th at 13:00 CEST by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang from the University of Southern California who will be sharing on “Longitudinal neurodevelopmental correlates of mid-adolescents’ psychosocial processing: A path to young adult wellbeing?”.
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\r\nAbstract
\r\nCombining open-ended interviews (outside the scanner) with structural, trial-by-trial, and resting-state functional MRI neuroimaging, we examined real-time functional neural dynamics underlying diverse urban mid-adolescents’ cognitive and emotional engagement with compelling social stories at two time-points, two years apart. We found that the patterns of longitudinal change in neural network dynamics predicted psychosocial outcomes five years later in young adulthood.
\r\nWe found that “transcendent thinking” – seeing situations not just in terms of X happened to person A, which makes me feel thusly, but in terms of the larger societal and contextual forces that shaped how Person A was treated and how Person A reacted, the broader implications and lessons one can draw from that situation, and the larger issues it exemplifies or reveals—correlated with a particular set of neural activity dynamics and predicted future structural and functional neural development across the subsequent two years, controlling for the starting state of neural development, and independent of IQ and SES. Transcendent thinking also countered negative effects of exposure to community violence on structural brain development.
\r\nThe neural development predicted by transcendent thinking (the changes in the brain across the 2-year period) in turn predicted young adult identity strength, self-liking, relationship satisfaction, and achievement 5 years later.
\r\nThese findings reveal a novel predictor of neural development across mid-adolescence, and underscore the active role adolescents play in their own brain development through the meaning they make of the social world. Implications for secondary education and pedagogy will be discussed.
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Hosted by Frédéric Grouiller, CIBM MRI HUG-UNIGE Section head, we are pleased to invite you to attend the CIBM 7T MRI Seminar on April 21st at 10:00 CEST by Caroline Le Ster from the CEA Neurospin, Paris who will be sharing on “Leveraging the potential of UHF scanners for fMRI studies”.
\r\nAbstract
\r\nThere is a growing availability of 7T scanners, with approximately 100 systems currently installed worldwide. These ultra-high-filed (UHF) scanners are particularly relevant for neuroimaging, where anatomical and functional images can be acquired with higher spatial and temporal resolution than on conventional scanners. However, UHF scanners remain difficult to operate, and understanding their specific limitations is essential. These systems indeed face several challenges arising from MR physics and biological effects that must be addressed within engineering constraints. Leverage the potential of UHF scanners, for instance through field monitoring, is therefore important to make the most of these scanners and benefit from the intrinsic SNR gain.
\r\nfMRI particularly benefits from the increase in magnetic field strength, enabling studies to be performed at higher resolution than at lower fields. In order to maintain reasonable acquisition times despite larger imaging matrices, several acceleration strategies have been developed, e.g. multi-slice EPI (SMS-EPI), three-dimensional EPI (3D-EPI) and non-Cartesian sampling schemes. In addition, functional contrasts also benefit from the field increase, including improved spatial localization of the BOLD contrast and the possibility to exploit VASO contrast.
A summer school taking place this September will bring together EPFL and ETH Zurich PhD students to explore how uncertainty can become a productive resource in design and fabrication through a hands-on construction robotics challenge.
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\r\nThe program combines lectures in architecture, robotics, and work psychology with the full-scale construction of a timber structure from irregular timber stock, using an ABB industrial robot in a human-robot fabrication workflow.
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\r\nNo previous experience in construction robotics is required, only curiosity.
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\r\nMore details, including the program, dates, and registration information, are available on the website: https://cap-uncertainty.epfl.ch/
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\r\nFor questions, please contact: cap-uncertainty@epfl.ch